When the Sex and the City sequel series And Just Like That… debuted on Max, we couldn’t help but wonder: Who is this bumbling, reckless, duplicitous character Cynthia Nixon is playing, and what has she done with the progressive, competent, forthright Miranda Hobbes?
Miranda’s personality shift was such a 180 that when she dyed her hair red again at the end of Season 1, we still didn’t recognize her. Here’s a ranking of Miranda’s AJLT low points — all but one of which is her doing.
7. Interrupting Che’s sitcom taping
You’d think that a woman who spent decades as a corporate lawyer would know how and when to silence her cell phone. And yet when Miranda watches Che (Sara Ramirez) tape their pilot, she forgets to put her phone on mute and gets a Skype call mid-scene. Of course, And Just Like That… makes that faux pas seem like a capital offense — you’ll notice it would be easy to Miranda’s ringtone out of the emotional moment between Che’s character and their father, played by Tony Danza — but we nevertheless cringed.
6. Enduring Che’s roast
After breaking up with Che, Miranda makes the mistake of attending one of their comedy routines — you know, the comedy routines we’re not convinced were written by actual comedians — and hears them lambasting their relationship. “My lady was very confused,” Che tells the audience, as Miranda does anything she can to dissociate. “And it’s not just her. Yeah, I was confused as well. We were both kind of in the same place. Yeah. She was confused about everything, and I was confused about why I was f***ing her.”
5. Embarrassing herself in class
On her first day of class at Columbia, Miranda confuses law professor Nya Wallace (Karen Pittman) for a student… because of her braids. And then she just can’t stop talking. “I was just thrown because the braids are so different than the hair in your photo on the Columbia website,” Miranda says in a panic. “My comment had nothing whatsoever to do with it being a Black hairstyle. I knew that you were Black when I signed up for this class. That was important to me. … Well, not just because you’re Black. … Please just forget that I ever said anything about your hair. Hair has nothing whatsoever to do with appropriateness or intelligence or gravitas, obviously.” (If we were her, we’d be dropping out of the master’s program by that point.)
4. Moving to L.A. instead of taking an internship
Miranda, the woman who once chided Carrie (Sarah Jessica Parker) for following Petrovsky (Mikhail Baryshnikov) to Paris for love, follows Che to Los Angeles for love in And Just Like That…Season 1 finale. Bear in mind, Che’s only in L.A. to film a sitcom pilot, which, by definition, isn’t a guarantee of long-term employment. Plus, Miranda gives up a promising human-rights internship to move across the country. Couldn’t she and Che just go long distance for a moment?
3. Having sex in front of a recuperating Carrie
Miranda tends to Carrie after the latter’s hip surgery in Season 1… at least until Che drops by Carrie’s apartment and tempts Miranda into smoking pot and doing shots with them. Then Miranda and Che have sex in full view of Carrie, and Miranda is oblivious to Carrie needing help getting to the bathroom. And so, to the tune of Miranda’s animalistic moans, Carrie pees on herself. “What are you doing?” Carrie later asks Miranda, saying aloud what we’re all thinking. “What was that in my kitchen? What is going on with you?”
2. Not telling Che she was cheating on Steve
When Miranda starts dating Che, she doesn’t tell them that her husband assumes he and Miranda are still in a monogamous relationship. To be fair, Che probably shouldn’t have assumed that Miranda was in an open marriage. But we agree with Che that it’s shady of Miranda to not let on that her weeks-long relationship with Che was actually an affair. “Why did you even put yourself out there if you’re not available?” Che says. “It’s not fair to not bring this up until now. New to being queer is one thing. Married and lying is another.”
1. Cheating on Steve
It’s understandable that Miranda would have a midlife crisis and that she and Steve (David Eigenberg) would have ebbs and flows in their marriage. It’s commendable that Miranda would want to take action in the midst of her malaise and to explore her sexuality. But doing so in secret, cheating on her devoted husband instead of speaking with him about her feelings? Subjecting him to nonethical nonmonogamy instead of finding a consensual arrangement? Doesn’t she remember how devastated she was when Steve cheated on her? Worse, she almost made it through her breakup conversation with Steve without mentioning Che. Who is this Miranda Hobbes?
And Just Like That… Season 3, TBD, Max
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